The South Dublin Branch of Birdwatch Ireland organised an evening walk out to Irishtown Nature Park on Friday 23rd May as part of Dublin City Council’s Biodiversity Week.

‘NewsFour’ announced the Council’s plan back in February when they launched the Dublin City Biodiversity Action Plan, which outlines an ambitious series of actions to save priority plants and animals.

By hosting events around International Biodiversity Day, they hoped to bring the public up close to nature and show how easy it is to get involved in local wildlife activities. The walk was supported by the Sandymount and Merrion Residents’ Association, which helped with leaflets and a notice on the notice board in the Green.

It was a fine and pleasant evening with the group gathering at the stile opposite Marine drive at 7pm. Binoculars and telescopes were present to be able to zoom in on the birds on the Strand.

Oscar Merne and Brian Gormley from Birdwatch Ireland led the walkers along the causeway out to the Nature Park in stages, stopping at a number of points along the route to focus on the different species.

I spoke with Brian Gormley who said, “Since it was established in 1987 Irishtown Nature Park has grown into a very mature habitat. In winter, it can be bleak and windswept but come spring it blossoms and the birds return in greater numbers.”

Brian said “The most noticeable birds are probably the stonechats, named after their distinctive clicking call. At present, there are at least three pairs breeding along the causeway walk and this is one of the best places in Dublin city to see them. The star bird must be the skylark, which has bred each year in the park. This is particularly good news as elsewhere in Ireland skylarks are decreasing and they are now ‘orange listed’, i.e. birds of conservation concern.”

Brian Gormley continued “The male reed bunting with its black head is another distinctive bird of the hedgerows in the park with at least two pairs present this year. It’s also a good place to see the linnet, which seldom comes to gardens and prefers rough, weedy ground– they are plentiful in the park.

In early May this year there were also several willow warblers singing but I don’t think they stayed to breed. Swallows find the park a good feeding area and they are joined a little later by house martins. They must both nest on the industrial buildings in the docks but I haven’t found where yet. A small colony of House Martins used to nest on the old West Stand at Landsdowne Road Stadium. Let’s hope they continue on the new stadium.”

All the regular garden birds could be seen: “Robin, blackbird, dunnock, wren, house sparrow, starling, song thrush and greenfinch which are very plentiful this year. Brian told me that the causeway is also the favoured haunt of the resourceful and entertaining grey crows, which can often be seen dropping shellfish onto the rocks to break them open. They may be the outlaws of the bird world but they at least keep the magpies in check by preying on their nests.

The wheatear is a passage migrant which can be found from March to May on the rocky bank at the Poolbeg end of the park. They are passing up the coast to their breeding grounds in mountainous areas. They return southward in Autumn.

Brian pointed out that “Around the Poolbeg peninsula in summer there is also a large colony of common tern and a few dozen Arctic Tern which nest on the ‘dolphin’ of the old red-brick power station.

“If you fancy a longer walk, then head out the South Wall and out beyond the Half Moon where there are nesting Black Guillemots, often perching on the edge of the pier oblivious to the walkers.”

Brian says that there is a lot to see on the Poolbeg in the summer time. “Start with the Nature Park, a small microcosm no less wild than the Serengeti– long may it continue in the heart of Dublin.”

He said that he would be very interested in any observations and sightings by readers, so please contact him at contact@birdweb.net or through the website of the South Dublin Branch of BirdWatch Ireland www.birdweb.net